


know that it doesn't hurt me

by homeschoolvaledictorian



Series: running up that hill [3]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M, More angst, Slice of Life, child fic, less fluff this time, pre-junior high
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 16:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12915960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homeschoolvaledictorian/pseuds/homeschoolvaledictorian
Summary: "I thought you didn't know him," Natsu-whatever-his-name-is says.Gakushuu looks disdainfully at Karma. "I know he's violent and unruly.""Stop, you're making me blush," Karma deadpans.The life and times of Akabane Karma, ex-best friend of Asano Gakushuu and first-year student at Kunugigaoka Junior High School.





	know that it doesn't hurt me

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Assassination Classroom.
> 
> You don't have to have read thunder in our hearts to understand this installment, but you probably have to have read see how deep the bullet lies. 
> 
> I've given up on writing a massive one-shot, so I'm going to be updating this in about two to three chapters. This is the last installment set before the third year of junior high.

The last thing Karma says to Gakushuu before their last year of elementary school ends: “If only there was a way to complete a mandatory partners project without talking to your partner.”

The last thing Gakushuu says to Karma before their last year of elementary school ends: “Watch me, Akabane.”  
  
It’s the new normal.

O-O-O-O-O-O

  
Karma carries a dread. It screws tension into the lines of his shoulders and marks his breaths before he takes them. The world has changed, is _changing_ , and its changes are strange and exhausting to bear. All of his old haunts—the bookstore downtown, the community park, the corner store two blocks from his house—are smeared with memories of Gakushuu and duly avoided. Karma finds his eyes glued to the sidewalk in front of his shoes on the way home, in fear of looking up and seeing something he doesn’t want to remember. At least his house has never been haunted by the memories, fortunately or not-so-fortunately.

That’s not even the worst of it. His own body is betraying him with the kind of sadistic glee Karma should have expected was coming for him. He has developed awkwardly long legs with feet that outgrow shoes within a month of purchase. His voice cracks so often that at one point he stops talking beyond one-word syllables. There is acne, hair emerging _everywhere_ , and most importantly, a constant, aching discomfort.

  
Hanari sums it up nicely. “Puberty is a bitch, Akabane. Welcome to manhood.”

  
Fuck.

  
O-O-O-O-O-O

  
It’s February, three months after. There are seven inches of snow blanketing the ground outside and temperatures are well below freezing. Needless to say, Karma is not allowed outside.

  
“You need a hobby,” his mother says. “Why don’t you take up a sport when the new school year starts? Didn’t you like basketball when you were younger?”

  
“No,” Karma says listlessly. He’s been lying on the couch all afternoon, half-heartedly reading American comics. His mother is finally starting to notice his apathy, but now the only emotion Karma can summon is the desire for her to go away.

  
“What about a musical instrument? There’s the old piano upstairs.”

  
“No.” That’s Mirai’s.

  
“You could take one of those art classes down at the recreation center. Maybe a photography class—just like your aunt! Wouldn’t that be fun?”

  
“No, Mom.”

  
Akabane Kasumi throws up her hands. “Karma, would you at least pretend to consider any of my suggestions? This moping around is not acceptable.”

  
“I’m not moping around,” Karma says, utterly monotone. “I’m fine.”

  
His mother sighs and leaves the room. Good.

  
O-O-O-O-O-O

  
Junior high begins, but it’s only a little better than being confined indoors. Karma doesn’t go out of his way to make any friends.

  
Gakushuu clearly isn’t experiencing the same asocial tendencies. There’s a new name thrown around the school: The Five Virtuosos of Class 1-A, each of them a near-genius with outstanding marks in their favored subjects. Together they form a powerful dynamic, with Asano Gakushuu heralded as their esteemed leader. Karma is less than surprised to see them monopolizing the prized lunch table next to the huge courtyard windows less than two weeks after classes begin.

  
Interacting with Gakushuu mostly consists of _not_ interacting with Gakushuu. It’s a lot easier than it was in elementary school, when they were in the same class. Now their relationship is based purely on the eye contact they make in the hallways. Gakushuu favors a cold, distant gaze reminiscent of his father, although he can’t quite pull it off like dear Asano Sr. can. Karma usually responds with a blank face wiped of any emotion, even recognition. In that moment, he pretends like he and Gakushuu have never met, and that Gakushuu has always been the untouchable image of a monarch that he presents.

  
If Gakushuu has cultivated a reputation as Kunugigaoka’s darling prodigy, Karma has cultivated a reputation of quite the opposite. That is, he cultivates nothing at all. If his classmates thought he was quiet before, Karma now makes an effort not to say more than two or three sentences a day. He closes himself off to a frighteningly high degree; anyone who tries to instigate a conversation with him leaves frustrated. They think he’s rude, and then they think he’s cold, and then they don’t think of him at all. It’s perfect.

  
The only time his name is brought up again is when the results of the first exams are posted. The Five Virtuosos steal the top five spots, of course, but Akabane Karma scores a coveted position at eighth place. This isn’t wholly surprising to him; Karma and Gakushuu had often playfully competed over grades in their younger years. Gakushuu usually won, but Karma routinely provided the most challenge to him out of any of their classmates, even when he wasn’t trying.

  
Their new classmates are busy pinning test scores to names and names to faces. Karma watches them from afar, having seen the results. Nobody is looking at him. Karma had made sure no one was looking at him. And yet Gakushuu’s eye catches his from across the room.

  
Something strange in the pit of his heart stretches Karma’s face into a smirk. A careful-to-look-careless smirk, a smirk that _reeks_ of arrogance, the kind of smirk Karma instinctively knows Gakushuu will hate. The sound of Gakushuu’s teeth grinding heard from across the room proves him right.

  
This is his happiest moment. Gakushuu’s glare is an acknowledgment, which is more than Karma has had for _months_. So what if it’s anger? A small, wretched part of Karma wants to see Gakushuu _suffer_ for what he did. It’s not like it’s not reciprocated.

  
O-O-O-O-O-O

  
The first day of fall doesn’t truly arrive until late September, when classes at Kunugigaoka Junior High are well underway after a month of summer break. The students are too busy to notice, frantically jotting down their notes with the fervor of the devoted to their gods. Karma is the only one to admire how radiantly the sun shines over the green-fresh air. It’s a spectacular view. He’s busy sinking into a mid-afternoon nap on the school roof when the door to the stairs abruptly opens and Isogai’s head pops through.

  
Karma had never skipped a class before middle school. But that was when he and—well, no point in going _there_. He skips classes now. It’s not like the material is hard. There’s not much of a point to school when he can practically deliver the teacher’s lectures word-for-word.

  
Isogai makes his way across the rooftop with a little knowing smile. “Turning to delinquency so soon, Akabane?”

  
“I can afford to skip a class or two,” Karma drawls. He closes his eyes and tucks his arms behind his head in a makeshift pillow.

  
“But skipping a whole morning? I’m in your class now, don’t think I don’t notice these things.”

  
Karma hums nonchalantly.

  
Isogai’s playful reproach turns into something more thoughtful. “You know, I don’t know if you know Maehara Hiroto—he’s my best friend—but he’s in our class too. You should sit with us at lunch sometime, we’re always under that tree by the arts building. It’s pretty quiet.”

  
“Trying to lure me back into the good light of civilized society, huh, Isogai?”

  
Isogai laughs. “If I was setting any kind of trap, I’m sure it wouldn’t work on _you_ , Akabane.”

  
Karma cracks an eye open and gasps lightly, mock-offended. “Whatever do you mean? I’m as susceptible to a friendly face as anyone else.”

  
“Hey, we were lab partners, so I know. You’re not quite what you make yourself out to be.”

  
“And what do I make myself out to be?”

  
Isogai seems to sense that he’s captured Karma’s interest. “Well, we all knew you were smart. That was obvious. But I’ve never met anyone else that knew much else about you, other than Asano Gakushuu. You’re…friends with him, aren’t you?”

  
Karma would like to be done with this conversation now. He opens his eyes to level Isogai with a flat stare. “Not really, no.”

  
“I thought I saw you hanging out together when—”

  
“We’re not friends.”

  
Isogai sucks in a breath. “The point is that you don’t let anyone get to know you. Hanari and I only got to be on good terms with you because we were in lab together twice a week for a semester.”

  
“In a confined space surrounded by dangerous chemicals,” Karma says dryly. “A breeding ground for lifelong friendships, if you want to have a long life.”

  
“Some people thought you were naturally aloof, some people thought you were naturally quiet,” Isogai continues, as if Karma hadn’t spoken. “Personally I thought you were a bit of both.”

  
“I think that’s a fair assessment."

  
“Really? I don’t think so.” Isogai turns toward the door to the stairs. “Not after I saw you with Asano.”

  
Karma’s mouth opens, but no sound comes out. Isogai is already walking away. “Do me a favor and think about lunch, Akabane.”

  
He’s going to have to rewrite his own opinion of Isogai, it seems. 


End file.
